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Six Inappropriate Subjects to Write About

This is another list of pitfalls in writing, but rather than focusing on the technique of writing, this focuses on the content. There are certain things in this world that are simply a touchy subject. This isn't necessarily a list of things you should never do. This is a list of things that you should know about fairly in depth before attempting to tackle.

And by "know about fairly in depth" I do not mean google it and read a wikipedia entry. These subjects are tense, and I see so many people, even in professional work, bungling them so badly that it is almost insulting. Also, the "my sister has it" argument still probably wouldn't be enough for me to consider you knowledgeable about a subject. Knowing one person who suffers from something really isn't enough to be able to write about it with your narrow and specific experience.

For example, some of you may have stumbled on my Living with SIDS book. I wrote three chapters of it and haven't added a new chapter for a while. Do you wonder why? It's because I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough yet to write any more on the subject outside of my personal experience. I lost a kid, and I have a biomedical degree, and I rotated in a laboratory that does research on breathing disorders, and I still don't think I have the right to tackle the subject yet. I plan to. I'm still reading, and adding papers every day, and learning, but I won't add more chapters until I feel my knowledge on the subject is sufficient to continue.

Young people especially, take heed of this, because just because you know a person with Down's Syndrome doesn't mean you understand Down's Syndrome and can write in the PoV of someone with Down's Syndrome. However, you could write as someone who knows someone with Down's Syndrome... presuming you write from personal experience, rather than from a wikipedia content page. Present experiences, not facts. You don't know the facts, and you're not here to teach them, so make sure your writing reflects that.

That's really the point of it. When you try to tackle a subject matter you don't understand, you end up insulting the people who actually have to deal with it. It leads to ridiculously over the top cures and conditional conditions that are just ludicrus to behold. In your attempt to portray something "accurately", you end up contributing to the spread of misinformation, stereotypes, and prejudice. Especially when you try to talk about things like...

Rape

Right off the bat to get my point across, we'll start with one of the worst offenders. Now, Rape has an interesting dynamic, because there is such a thing as a Rape Fantasy. I'm actually not going to talk about Rape Fantasies here. Girls writing about being held against their will and sexually assaulted by a guy are not a problem here.

I know there are many of you who will disagree with that statement, but I consider Rape Fantasy to be just that. It's a Fantasy. It's not representing real rape, any more than the Matrix represents real gun fights. It's why we don't go into PTSD every time we see a Rambo mowing down a million guys. We understand that it's power fantasy about a guy killing all the "bad guys" and we don't mind seeing hundreds of people die on screen without batting an eyelash. You can read a hundred Rape Fantasies and it really doesn't matter because they're not trying to be real and we all know that.

No, what I worry about is when people place rape in a story as a form of characterization, or as a means of trying to seriously tackle the concept of rape without actually doing so. How many stories have you read where a character is given "was raped" as a character quirk? Like it's something to make the character more edgy or three dimensional. The writer might use the knowledge or stress of having been raped to make them unreasonable to add drama and tension. Or perhaps worst of all, something happens in the plot and they 'get over it".

They confront their rapist, and either give him his comeuppance or forgive him. Or they come to the realization they ought to be less mopey, like they're milking being raped. It's disgusting, and people who write scenes like that ought to know it's disgusting. How many times has a main heroine ended up befriending her would be rapist?